Legal News Alert #113

DEADBEAT PARENT GOES TO JAIL - INABILITY TO PAY NOT A DEFENSE

A deadbeat parent who was prosecuted for failure to pay child support should not have been allowed to introduce evidence of his inability to pay, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in an issue of first impression.

The prosecution argued that such evidence is inadmissible because felony nonsupport is a strict liability crime.

The Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the trial court's denial of the prosecution's motion to exclude evidence of the dad's financial problems.

Defendant Richard Carl Adams and his wife were divorced in July 1991. They were awarded joint legal custody of their three children, and the defendant was ordered to pay monthly child support.

However, on June 4, 2003, a warrant was issued for the defendant's arrest for failure to pay an arrearage totaling $36,265.44.

The defendant was subsequently charged with one count of felony nonsupport pursuant to a new Michigan law. He pleaded not guilty and trial was set for October 7, 2003.

"Here, the maximum potential punishment is imprisonment for four years or a $2,000 fine", Judge Gage noted in her ruling in People vs. Adams.

"Although four years' imprisonment may seem severe, especially given that imprisonment will eliminate any ability for the defendant to pay support while he is incarcerated, the statute does afford the defendant a chance to redeem himself before a sentence is imposed," Gage explained. "If an obligor who defied a support order by failing to seek modification and choosing instead to just not pay, then fails to satisfy the bond conditions, the imposition of up to a four-year sentence is not severe; instead, at that point, the defendant has repeatedly demonstrated to the court that we will not adhere to the court order, and imprisonment is justified."

NICHOLS & EBERTH, P.C.
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